Ulster county 'Spring Cleaning' drug raids nab 35

Ulster sweep targets drug trafficking

KINGSTON — A 7-month-long drug trafficking investigation dubbed "Operation Spring Cleaning" has so far swept up 35 people throughout the county and beyond, many of who are facing felony charges by police with selling or helping to sell drugs.

Here's the list of those taken into custody today and are facing various drug and related charges:

David Binder, 68, Mt. Tremper

William C. Champagne, 23, Saugerties

Jonathan "...

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Facing charges

Here's the list of those taken into custody today and are facing various drug and related charges:

David Binder, 68, Mt. Tremper

William C. Champagne, 23, Saugerties

Jonathan "Doof" Gonzalez, 21, Ellenville

Kathryn "Katie" Hayes, 24, Ellenville

Brandon Johnson, 19, Saugerties

Joseph Iorlano, 51, Modena

Kelly Kiernan, 29, Ellenville

Ruben "Blaze" Soto, who's in Ulster County Jail

Kelly J. Young, 41, Ellenville

John "Eyes" Simms III, 31, Ellenville

James "Homeboy" Smith, 36, of Ellenville

Anthony Layton, 48, Highland

Anthony "Gene" Nelson, 44, Poughkeepsie

Karen Matey, 57, Saugerties

Michael Matey, 26, Saugerties

Jessica A. Bennett, 32, Saugerties

Munro "T" Faircloth, Milton

Shady "Gotti" Mkhail, 29, Poughkeepsie

Ellen "Peggy" Gersch, 54, Highland

Marcus Coles, 39, Ellenville

Detrell "Dirty Bird," or "D," Pittman, 34, of Ellenville. Pittman is a known member of the BLOODS criminal street gang

Darron T. Wilson, 45, Buffalo

Ana K. Jacobson, 20, Saugerties

Justin K. Caggiano, 18, Saugerties

Jade L. Evans, 25, Poughkeepsie

Steven Schmitt, 29, Stone Ridge

Burton Aldrich, 51, Stone Ridge

Previously arrested in the sting on April 6 are:

Shalimar "Swag" Cason, 24, Brooklyn

Erik Kerr, 19, Kerhonkson

Amanda Hunlock, 24, Kerhonkson

Raymond Pauli, 31, City of Kingston

Dillion Binder, 18, Mount Tremper

Rachel Lennox, 20, Bearsville

Joshua Wolven, 24, Kingston

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KINGSTON — A 7-month-long drug trafficking investigation dubbed "Operation Spring Cleaning" has so far swept up 35 people throughout the county and beyond, many of who are facing felony charges by police with selling or helping to sell drugs.

On Wednesday, members of the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team, or URGENT, announced the early-morning raids and arrests of 23 of 39 people in total they say have been pushing heroin, cocaine, crack, marijuana and diverted pills.

Seven of the 39 people targeted in the raids were already picked up last week and some are still at large, police say.

The undercover surveillance and "buy and bust" operations spanned almost every municipality in Ulster County aside from Shandaken, said URGENT Detective Lt. Ed Brewster. Indictments were unsealed Wednesday and warrants issued to apprehend the suspects at their homes, Brewster said.

Most are expected to be arraigned this week in Ulster County Court.

Those in custody were described by Brewster as "mid-level" dealers, who sold drugs, and much of it heroin, to undercover police officers at least two times in more than 100 buys, Brewster said.

Those in custody aren't suspected to be part of one organized crime unit but a diaspora of different mid-level pushers throughout the region, Brewster said.

Heroin sold to undercover officers was going for $8 to $10 a bag, Brewster said, but seized over the course of the operation were more than 1,000 "bags" or "decks" of heroin, several ounces of cocaine and crack cocaine and more than 500 diverted pills, police say.

Ellenville police Chief Phillip Mattracion, along with other police chiefs and the Ulster County sheriff, said that within the last few years heroin has become a larger problem in the county as the price and access to opiate pills has decreased.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a member of URGENT, lent about 40 members of its investigations unit and special response team to the operation.